Altai starts selling summer tours

GORNO-ALTAISK, April 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Tourist camps of the Republic
of Altai have started selling tours for the upcoming summer season.
The republic's Ministry of Tourism says that full accommodation will
cost 1,130 roubles a night. Some of the camps have not quoted their prices
due to growing cost of food.
Over 2010, Altai hosted 1.2 million tourists, which is by 20 percent
more than in the previous year. The republic's tourist facilities may host
8.8 thousand guests, where 3.5 thousand - all the year round.
Tourism employs about five thousand locals. The total population of
the republic is 212,000. Over 80 percent of visitors who come to spend
holidays in Altai's mountains come from different parts of Siberia.
The Altai mountains are the major mountain range of southwestern
Siberia and the source of the River Ob'. Three separate areas are
inscribed: Altaisky Reserve with Lake Teletskoye on the border with Tuva,
Katunsky Reserve with Mount Belukha, bordering Kazakhstan, and the Ukok
Quiet Zone bordering China and Mongolia. The region has the most complete
sequence of altitudinal vegetation zones in central Siberia which ranges
from steppe, forest-steppe, coniferous forest, mixed forest, subalpine
meadows to alpine tundra and glaciers. The mountains are also an important
habitat for rare, endemic and endangered animals such as the snow leopard
and have great beauty.